After a long break I am back to blogging my recipes. Sorry guys didn't have time to experiment with recipes. Coming up in this series are recipes for quick breakfast and some Indian gravies.

Date Pudding

Here is recipe which I have tried several times and people have loved it. Its nutritious and very filling. A slice of it with a glass of milk or a cup of coffee makes yummy breakfast.The best part is you can store it for 2-3 days.

Ingredients:

Seedless dates (cut) - 1 cup
Milk - 1 cup
Wheat flour - 1 cup
Sugar - 1/2 cup
Baking powder - 1/2 teaspoon
Cooking butter - 1 tablespoon (Even salted butter is fine)

Preparation:

Add sugar and boil milk in a wide pan. Add the dates to the milk and keep stirring till the dates are cooked and the mixture solidifies. Add the cooking butter. Remove from the flame and let the preparation cool down. Now add the wheat flour, one tablespoon at a time, and mix to make a smooth homogenous mixture. Similarly add baking powder. Place mixture in a container (coated with oil or butter) and pressure cook (use the weight-release-valve of pressure cooker) for 25-30 min, on low flame.

Refrigerate it before serving. You can store it for 2 days at room temprature and 3-4 days in a refrigerator.

Variations of the recipe:

To give a chocolate(Vanilla) flavour to the pudding you can replace 1/4 cup of wheat flour with cocoa powder(Horlicks).

Tips:

For all the recipes where it is required to add flour and baking powder, its better to sieve them together for a homogenous mixture.

Green Grams Khichdi
(Serves: 1)
I went out to a Gujrathi place for a treat with my IISc gang. Only good thing I ate that day was this khichdi. Anu who was one in the gang, requested me to make the khichdi for her. I am posting this recipe after few trials. Anu was lucky as none of them failed. She is quality tester for my food :D.

Note: This is a very bland dish. People who prefer spicy food: Don't blame me if u dont like it.

Ingredients:
(1 cup = 200ml)

• Green grams(whole with skin) - 1/2 cup
• Rice - 1/2 cup
• Salt
  
• Pepper
• Cumin seeds (Jeera) - 1/2 teaspoon
  
• Ghee - 1 teaspoon
• Oil - 1 teaspoon
  
• Lemon
• Water - 3 cups
  

Preparation:
Soak the green grams overnight. Wash them throughly before cooking. Heat the oil in the pan and when sufficiently hot add cumin seeds. Add the green grams and rice. Mix to make the mixture homogeneous. Add 2 cups water. Add 1/4 teasppon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Pressure cook for 10 min. Now add the remaining water slowly while mixing well with a ladle. Add extra salt and pepper according your taste. Cook till it is thick. Add the ghee and stir well. Cook for 1 min. Serve with lemon.

Tips:
If you dont mind your khichdi being a little pasty: After intial pressure cooking, while mixing with laddle crush some of the green grams it gives a very nice taste.

Corn Rice Serves: 1
Ingredients: (1 cup = 200ml)

• Sweet Corn - 1 cup
• Rice - 1 cup
• Salt
  
• Garam Masala - 1/4 teaspoon
  
• Sugar - 1/2 teaspoon
• Oil - 2 teaspoons
• Cumin seeds (Jeera) - 1/2 teaspoon
• Water - 2 cups (for rice) + 2 cups (for corn)
  
• Turmeric powder - 1/4 teaspoon
  

Preparation:

Pressure cook the corn with 2 cups of water. Heat the oil in a pan and when oil is sufficiently hot add the cumin seeds. Add the boiled corn and turmeric powder. Add the rice to the preparation. Mix well so that turmeric powder is evenly distributed. Add 2 cups of water and allow it come to boiling state. Add the garam masala and salt to taste (See Note: section below). Pressure cook for 10 min at a low flame.

Tips for beginners:

• To check if oil is sufficiently hot when you can see vapour above it or you can check my dropping a cumin seed, tiny bubble should form around it.
• The rule to check is the salt is sufficient is same for all the rice preparations : if you taste the water - it should be as salty as you want the final rice to be.

Variations of the Recipe:

• Corn dishes usually tastes well if they are sweet. So it is recommended to add sugar. Don't add the sugar if you don't prefer sweet taste. People preferring a little more spice can add a little more of garam masala.
• You can also use the local variety of corn available. But make sure you boil it well. The amount of water required depends on the type of corn.
  

Eggless Cake.. and No Baking !!!
Serves: 5 to 6

Want to make a cake for a friend's bday but don't have a clue about baking, or don't have an oven??? Who said u need an oven or for that matter even bake to make a cake. Here is the easiest recipe for a cake.

Ingredients:
(1 cup = 200ml)

• Glucose biscuits - 40 pieces
• Cocoa powder - 3 to 4 table spoons
• Icing sugar/ Powdered sugar (better if its icing sugar) - 2 cups
• Drinking chocolate/Bornvita
• Milk - 200ml
• Butter (unsalted) - 1 cup
• A rectangular tray that can fit nine glucose biscuits placed in a matrix of 3X3 and there is 1 inch gap left on all sides after arranging the biscuits.
• Butter paper/ if not available - any thick clean paper.

Preparation:
Melt the butter and make a paste by adding icing sugar and cocoa powder to it. Add the icing sugar slowly so that the paste is even without lumps of dry icing sugar. Keep this mixture in a warm place. The amount of cocoa powder depends on your taste.

Make a chocolate drink with milk and Drinking chocolate/Bornvita. Put this drink in a vessel such that it is convenient to dip a biscuit in it.

Spread a sheet of paper on the rectangular tray. Now dip 9 glucose biscuits 1-by-1 in the chocolate drink and arrange in the form of a matrix on the center part of the tray. Spread a layer of icing on the layer of biscuits filling the gaps between the biscuits (due to rounded corners). Again arrange a layer of biscuits dipped in milk over the chocolate icing layer and over it spread a layer of chocolate icing as done previously. Repeat this till the height of the cake is fine with you. Usually four layers of buiscuits will be enough. Cover the sides of the whole biscuit building with chocolate icing such that the biscuits are not visible. Freeze it for 1/2 hr to 1hr and your cake is ready.

Some tips:
- If the chocolate icing becomes too thick add more molten butter. At any point of time it should be thick enough to easily spread over the biscuits.
- For making the cake neatly, arrange four papers to form a border leaving a place in the center of the tray sufficient enough to make the cake. The icing might spill on to the sides while spreading. Once the whole preparation is done remove the papers placed on the borders. This is just to make the tray look neat :D.
- You can use a butter knief to spread the icing evenly.
- You can arrange cashew/ almond pieces on the top of the cake.

Note:
- For making icing - Mix 1 volume of molten butter with 2 volumes of icing sugar.
- Once you know how to make it, you can change the size of the cake as you wish.
- If you don't want to make a chocolate cake, you can add any other flavor to the mixture of icing sugar and milk to make icing of you choice. You can try vanilla icing and replace drinking chocolate with something which suits vanilla (ex. horlicks).

Spinach Rice
Serves: 1

Ingredients:
(1 cup = 200 ml)

• Spinach (cut) - 1 1/2 cups
• Rice - 1 cup
• Salt (to taste)
• Cumin seeds (Jeera) 1/2 teaspoon
• Mustard seeds (Sarson) 1/4 teaspoon
  
• Pepper - 1/2 teaspoon
• Oil 2 table spoon
• Water 2-cups
• Turmeric powder - 1/2 teaspoon

Preparation:
Heat the oil in a pan and add the cumin n mustard seeds once oil is sufficiently hot. Add the spinach and stir till the spinach looses the water(volume of the spinach reduces significantly). Now add the rice and stir it so that rice is evenly distributed. Add the turmeric powder and stir well. Add water and stir the mixture thoroughly once. Add salt to the preparation and stir well (if you taste the water, it should be as salty as you want the final rice to be). Add pepper and stir well. Cook till it comes to boiling state and then cook in a pressure cooker for 10 min at a low flame.


Tips for beginners:

• To check if oil is sufficiently hot when you can see vapour above it or you can check my dropping a cumin seed, tiny bubble should form around it.
• The rule to check is the salt is sufficient is same for all the rice preparations : if you taste the water - it should be as salty as you want the final rice to be.

Note:

• If you want the preparation to be spicy you can add a small sized chilly split in the center, with spinach and 1/4 teaspoon of garam masala after adding salt.
  

Make a Meal in Just 30 mins !!!

• Its a nice sunny Sunday and dont want to spend too much time cooking...
• Want to sleep for a little more in the morning and still cook your lunch before rushing to office...
• Want to cook a quick dinner for yourself before crashing on bed..
• In a foriegn country you prefer your cooking to eating out...
• A bachelor trying some simple cooking...
  

If any of these remind you of a day in your life then coming up next on this blog are some recipes for a quick meal.

Hi All,

Before I start I would like to acknowledge my friends, especially Anuradha, who have been victims of my failed experiments :) (Note: all of them are still in good health), but never stopped eating the food I cooked.

The recipes mentioned in this blog are tested (on humans :D) and appreciated (sometimes after a few failures). Try them and send in your feedback. I ll be giving all the versions of a recipe appreciated by people with different preferences.

Regards,
Vasanta